Weirdest tech and gadgets at CES 2013

Bizarre kit that caught our attention for very different reasons

Ion Audio Scratch 2 Go

Another CES means another off-the-wall product from the innovators at Ion Audio. This year it's the Scratch 2 Go - a set of tactile, DJ-esque controls that stick (via suction cups) to your iPad's display. Included in the set are two sets of equaliser knobs, a crossbar and two scrubbers, all of which have a point of contact with the display, thus touching the screen for you. Line up the bits with your DJ app of choice and away you go.

iMusicBodyRhythm

Uwe Diegel is a former concert pianist, turned medical product designer. His latest invention arrived at CES via Kickstarter, and is designed to let you feel the rhythm of your music. The iMusicBodyRhythm is a massage vest that pulses to your beats. Simply connect the vest to your iDevice, and you can get a massage to the beat of your music, or create your own beats with a virtual drumkit.

LEGO Mindstorms EV3 Kit

What we wouldn't give to be 20 years younger right now. As the name suggests, this is Lego's 3rd generation Mindstorms Kit, and now comes complete with an iOS and Android app, containing 3D building instructions, and controls for your mechanised creations. Lego promises more customizability in the programming than ever before, and a total of 5 bespoke kits, with thousands of other possibilities.

Oculus Rift

This virtual reality headset is very much in the prototype stage, but it's incredibly promising nonetheless. The Oculus team has been working with Epic Games to get the Unreal 3 engine working from source on the Rift headset. Although movement is controlled via an Xbox gamepad, the 7-inch, 1280 x 800 display and built-in motion detection means that users are optically and aurally immersed in a virtual world.

Parrot Flower Power

French innovators Parrot – of Zik and AR Drone fame – are back with something equally exciting, if you're green fingered. The Flower Power is a sort of mock twig that sits in the soil with your favourite flower, monitoring sunlight, water and other important factors. This info is then beamed back to your paired iOS device, where an app helps you look after your prized plant.

iRobot Looj 330 Gutter Cleaner

This cheeky fella blows gunk out of your gutters with a high-velocity auger, whilst brushing the rest up as it goes. The mechanical genius' at iRobot reckon it'll get through about 30 foot of guttering in 5 minutes, and around 200 foot before the 7.2V battery needs a recharge. Most importantly, this is an end to your day of unstable ladders and handfuls of muddy leaves.

HAPIlabs HAPIfork

According to French company HAPIlabs, eating too fast is one of the main reasons some of us put on weight – we simply eat too much before our brain can process and tell us to stop. The HAPIfork monitors you in real-time, and warns you with a gentle vibrate (sending your forkful of peas everywhere) and some flashing lights if you're eating too fast, whilst the accompanying app tracks your eating habits over a long period of time.

iRobot Mirra 530 Pool Cleaner

Drop this little chap in your pool, and he'll give it a proper clean for you. That includes filtering 70 gallons of water a minute, brushing dirt and algae off the floor of the pool and evenly distributing chlorine as he goes. Not only that, it'll work its way around obstacles and even makes sure not to get itself tangled in the 60 foot floating power cord.

Tobii Rex

Tobii Technology brought their eye-tracking tech to CES last year, but this year's incarnation is significantly more polished, and certainly more accurate. The Tobii Rex sensor bar plugs into your Windows 8 PC via USB, and after calibration it will map the cursor to your eyes. Any clicking, scrolling or zooming action still requires a keyboard, but it's impressive nonetheless.

Vuzix M100 AR Glasses

We saw a prototype pair of AR specs from Vuzix at CES last year. Now, the US-based tech firm are back with the M100s, which come loaded with Android 4.0, 720p video recording, GPS, WiFi and Bluetooth, as well as 4GB of storage memory. Vuzix reckons the device will last for around 8 hours, and whilst the glasses are not nearly as capable as your average smartphone whilst you view photos and videos, get pushed notifications and answer emails.